A WAR hero beaten up by thugs has been heartened by the telephone calls, cards and letters he has received after his plight was featured in last week's Chronicle.

Fred Aitken was left nursing a black eye and deeply shocked after the attack in Upper Northgate Street, Chester.

The former RAF man, who lives in Hoole with his wife, flew in Pathfinder aircraft under enemy radar to light the way for Lancaster bombers which dropped their lethal load.

Now a peace campaigner, Mr Aitken wrote in a letter to The Chronicle: 'I would like to express my gratitude for the kindness and also the kind-heartedness I have received from friends and many people in the Chester area.'

Mr Aitken, who worked as a car park attendant at County Hall for many years, had his glasses smashed in the incident as he went to the offices of the Cheshire Landscape Trust, near the Fountains Roundabout, where he works as a volunteer.

'They carried on with their conversation,' he said. 'They didn't hasten their pace and they carried on walking to where they were going. It was casually done. They never even looked back.'

Fortunately a man saw Fred and called his wife on a mobile. They took him home in their car.

The next day colleagues from the Landscape Trust phoned to make sure he was OK, having found 'lots of blood on the floor'.

His friend Steve Howe, of Hoole, also wrote a letter to The Chronicle saying that he was disgusted by the attack.

Mr Aitken, who has lived in Chester for more than 30 years, is originally from Edinburgh, where he was brought up by nuns because his father couldn't cope with eight children after his mother died.

He has hit the headlines before because he is among more than 400 people seeking a financial settlement from the Catholic Church because of the psychological damage it allegedly inflicted.

Mr Aitken later joined the RAF, and says it was his wartime experience that compelled him to become involved as a peace campaigner.